Zoomi Life

As with our electric car picks for 2008, these electric scooters are all available in the USA now or will be in 2009 and are top picks for various reasons: design, capability, innovation, etc. Most of you know by now that scooters are one of my least favorite things, but there are an amazing number of them on the EV market and they seem to be popular as commuters and all-around “get around” machines.

Read More: Our Top 5 Electric Scooters Of 2008

Got an opinion about the Mistubishi i MiEV? Maybe shape the future of how this car company views EVs? Well, here ya go. While it might be nothing more than a customer relations marketing tool, this survey could very well shape how Mitsubishi sees itself in the electric future.

Read More: Mitsubishi Wants to Know What You Think About the i MiEV

Claiming they’re “five years behind Asians” in their ability to manufacture battery cells for electric vehicles, fourteen battery companies formed an alliance in order to push for federal funding for improved research and development. Their plan is to lobby the federal government to give them handouts so they can catch up to the Asians (mainly the Chinese) in technology and manufacturing.

Read More: Top American Battery Makers Form Alliance

Without any explanation, the BYD company in China, which released the F3DM plug-in hybrid to Chinese customers a couple of weeks ago, has no announced that they will be waiting an extra year to release the car to North America. So you won’t see the F3DM that Warren Buffet owns 10% of until 2011.

Read More: BYD Changes Date For U.S. Release of F3DM

Alright, these are our picks for the top 5 electric motorcycles of this year. As with our pick of cars, these are all models available for purchase in the USA by 2010 and are being gauged by innovation, design, and availability. I’ll dispense with my usual flowery commentary and present to you, now, our 2008 picks for Top 5 Electric Motorcycles! \insert drum roll sound file here\

Read More: Our Top 5 Electric Motorcycles for 2008

The secretive company EEStor has been quietly talked up by potential manufacturers eager to use their new EESU (Electrical Energy Storage Unit). At the same time, EEStor themselves has kept pretty quiet, which only builds the anticipation. This company’s technology is a unique, light-weight electrical storage unit (battery) that can store extremely high amounts of energy.

Read More: EEStor’s Ultracapacitor Patent Revealed To the Public

Ian Wright, inventor and builder of the Wrightspeed X1 race car we featured not too long ago, has announced that the car will not be manufactured for sale in the foreseeable future. Economic woes, lower gas prices, and other factors have made the car unrealistic to sell on the market.

Read More: Update on the Wrightspeed X1 Electric Race Car

The winner of this year’s Boston Design Competition was a car called the Boston Bullet by a Romanian designer named Mihai Panaitescu. The competition’s theme was to come up with a car that is inspired by the city’s revolutionary and technological culture.

Read More: A Bullet With Boston’s Name On It

I recently watched some videos made by Oncars.com as they reviewed the Tesla Roadster in its 1.5 drive-train configuration. The video is well done and covers the pros and cons of this vehicle well. The reviewer is a little dry, though, and sounds like he’s seen too many British documentaries.

Read More: New Tesla Roadster 1.5 Video Review

While the Tango is primarily a commuter electric, it has other uses too, as shown in the following YouTube video:

This bears the question: how well does it do Brodeys?

Read More: The Tango Snow Plow